The New Students
by drummerbabe13027
Summary: Six teens are led to the FF8 world to help the SeeDs fight a new evil. R&R!!!
1. day 1: in school

A/N: I only own the idiotic ramblings I try to pass off as a story. Ok maybe they aren't all that idiotic, they at least makes some sense unlike most things I say. In this little story Squall, Zell, Seifer, Irvine, Selphie, Rinoa, and Quistis go to my high school. I don't know much of anything past that. Just read it, review it, tell me what you'd rate it (believable, unbelievable) 

~The New Students~ 

*Day 1:In School* 

Its was a normal Wednesday morning, besides the fact that it was the first day of school. Trish had just been rudely awoken by her too-loud alarm clock and now it lay upside down on the floor by the bedside table. The brunette groaned as she sat up in her bed, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes as the blankets slid off her slender form and she stretched as she stood up to get ready for the day before her. Tripping over various things on her way to the door and was able to sleepwalk to the bathroom. 

The warm spray of water hit her face and she was immediately awake. Trish quickly showered, the exotic smells of her shampoo and body wash filled the bathroom and when she stepped out the air hung heavy with mist as she stepped out and wrapped the towel around her and went back to her room to get dressed. When she closed her door she secured her towel and went about the task of deciding what to wear. She had two dressers and a closet filled with clothes and she still didn't have anything to wear. After a few minutes of passing from the dressers to the closet she finally decided on two outfits, a khaki skirt and a hooded gray long-sleeve shirt or a pair of Mudd jeans and a green tank top. She looked back and forth between the outfits she had lain on her bed and remembered she was meeting her friends after school to hang out before practice that evening and decided on the jeans and tank top. 

Downstairs she practically inhaled some pop-tarts and a Mt. Dew before the bus rounded the bend and screeched to a lurching stop. Trish quickly ran out the door almost forgetting to close it and tried to walk across the dew-kissed grass with her shoes half on. 

"Rough morning?" The cheery bus driver asked as she climbed the bus stairs. 

"Nothing out of the ordinary Gary," Trish said chuckling and she made her way through the mostly empty bus the back where her friend Ceara sat half asleep eating cereal robotically out of a ziploc bag. "You must've been half dressed when the bus came to you place." Trish said noticing Ceara's sandals sitting on her bag. 

Ceara simply grunted in response to the remark. The two girls rode in silence as the bus continued on and stopped at the next stop. The driver released the air and waited for the Snows as Lindsay ran down the driveway and her brother, Dave, simply walked, knowing Gary would wait for him. Dave made it to the bus just as Jason was getting to the bus. 

"Morning Mr. Snow, Jason," Gary greeted the boys and they grunted in response as they sat in their usual seats. 

The next stop was Brandon's, he got on the bus with his bagel wrapped in a napkin. He joined Trish and Ceara at the back of the bus. Brandon is usually cheery in the morning and almost immediately started talking when he sat down. 

"Hey guys!" the young teen said as he sat down and unwrapped his bagel, "I'm finally a freshman." 

"You sure you won't be lonely without me there?" Ceara said jokingly as she slipped her sandals on her feet. 

"I think I'll be all right," Brandon said as he took a big bite of his bagel and continued talking, "I just won't have anyone to make fun of." 

"Oh shut up," Ceara retorted as she searched her lunch bag for something else to eat. 

"I feel sorry for you Trish," Brandon said, "You have to deal with Ceara all day long." 

"I just hope my classes are on the opposite floors of her classes," Trish said and started laughing quietly at something she just thought of. 

"What?" Ceara asked figuring it was something about her, "Is it something about me?" 

"Yes actually it is," Trish said smirking, "I just imagined what you would look like going up and down the stairs between classes." 

"Shit!" Ceara exclaimed, "I forgot about the stairs!" 

"haha," Brandon started laughing, "I can just see you! You'd be tripping up and down the stairs and they'd have ta wheel you out on a stretcher before third period!" 

"Hey !I've gotten better at walking, I only trip when I'm distracted," Ceara said pouting comically. 

The bus had finally made it to the village and was picking up more kids. At the first stop five students boarded the bus, the second about ten and the third about fifteen got on. The bus was loud with the expectant voices of the students. Some of the high school boys were already planning on who they would ask to the first dance of the school year. 

After the bus stopped at the junior high and let the students who went there off Gary sped off towards the high school to unload the remainder before he went off to do the elementary run. Trish and Ceara got off the bus and entered the building through the main entrance. The girls were quickly joined by there different groups of friends and they departed ways. 

"How have you been the last couple days of your summer vacation?" Ciel asked she came up, she was already practicing her Spanish verbs. 

"It was pretty good," Trish said, "I doubt you will have a Spanish test on the first day of school." 

"Yea," Ciel said, "But my Spanish teacher's a prick, he'd probably say something like 'I'm just seeing what you remember from last year, to give me an idea of what I need to review' We'll fucking remember just teach us the stuff we pay you to teach us." 

"You two better get to your homeroom soon," A stern teacher said to the girls. 

"Did you get homeroom in the band room?" Ciel asked. 

"Yea," Trish said as she was rudely bumped into by a tall boy in all black. 

The boy said nothing in response, he just stood there and stared blankly at Trish. Trish stared back, she took in the image the boy. He had black pants on and a gray T-shirt under a unbuttoned black shirt. He looked totally different from the boys who attended the school, his hair was the most unusual, it was relatively short except in the front where it was longer and it stuck straight out._ I wonder how much gel it took to get his hair like that_. Trish looked him up and down once more before continuing up the stairs. 

"Was he weird or what?" Trish asked Ciel who was still staring at him. 

"Oh you know me," Ciel said with a flirty smile, "I like the odd ones." 

Trish just shook her head as she waved to another group of her friends passing by. Trish nearly jumped two feet when she felt someone poke her in the side. She quickly turned and was face to face with her boyfriend Tias. 

"Good Morning sunshine," he said smirking knowing she hated that. Trish pushed him playfully and he grabbed by the waist and pulled her close, it was a little game they played. 

"You coming to my competition this Saturday?" Trish asked. 

"Of course," Tias said smiling, "Where is it again?" 

"Central Square," Ciel answered before Trish could open her mouth, "Hey I didn't call it C.N.S. this time!" 

"You're learning," Trish said jokingly and was about to say something else when she was interrupted by the bell signaling to be get to homeroom, "See you later Tias." 

"Later," Tias said giving Trish a quick kiss on the cheek before heading the opposite direction to his homeroom. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish walked into her first period study hall just as the bell rang and she sat down in a seat near the back not totally noticing the faces in the room. _Forty minutes of nothing, it's great_. Trish looked around a the various faces that filled the room. She knew most of them but there was one who stuck out, the blond one with spiky hair and a tattoo on the left side of his face. _New kid, I'll_ _see if I can talk to him this period_. The teacher took attendance and said the students could talk amongst themselves. Trish slid out of her chair and moved up to the table where the new kid was sitting. 

"Hey," She said with a warm smile. The boy seemed to be in his own little world, he looked up at the girl who had just spoke to him and gave a slight nod. 

"Hey," he said looking back down at the table. 

"You new here?" Trish asked trying to start a conversation with him. 

"Yea," he muttered, "I'm Zell." 

"Trish," Trish replied, "Nice to meet you." 

"Likewise," Zell said, "So what is there to do around here for fun?" 

"In town there isn't much to do," Trish said, "On this side of the river there is the Skate park at the YMCA and on the other side there's the cheap movie theater. They sometimes have a good movie there." 

"That's all?" Zell said making a face. 

"There's some malls close by," Trish replied, "Most of the time my friends and me just walk around town." 

A tall blond boy walked through at that moment, his presence caused Zell to scowl. Trish noticed him, he looked about eighteen or nineteen. He was wearing a black T-shirt and faded jeans. Trish turned back to Zell and noticed his change in attitude. 

"You don't, by any chance, know him do you?" Trish asked tentatively. 

"Seifer," Zell practically growled. 

"I take it you don't like him," Trish said. 

The bell rang signaling the end of first period. Zell stood and shoved his hand deep into his pocket to fish out a piece of folded paper. He scratched his head and he read it, "How do you get to room 212 from here?" 

"212?" Trish said looking over her own schedule, "That's where I'm going." 

"Cool," Zell said shoving the schedule back in pocket, "Don't mind if I walk with you, do you?" 

"Nah," Trish said. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

The two students entered the classroom and were met by the teacher. The room was a bright yellow that is seen in several other rooms in the school and the walls were decorated with posters depicting scenes and people from United States history. Trish took a seat in one of the groups near the back of the room, Zell took a seat from the same group. Zell sat sideways in his chair watching the steady flow of students into the room. He waved to one boy who walked in, he was tall and in mostly black. 

"Hey Squall! Over here!" Zell called out to the boy. He stopped and stared at Zell before changing his direction and sat in one of the two remaining seats at the group. 

Trish was talking to a girl that was in the group nearby and didn't notice when Squall came to sit. When she turned she was surprised to see the same person who had bumped into that morning. He stared back at Trish with the same blank stare he had given her that morning. Trish opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the squeal of a girl who had just entered the room. 

"Squall!" a girl squealed from across the room, "You didn't tell me you had the same history teacher as me!" a raven haired girl said scampering over to the group and dropped her things down on the remaining seat just as the bell rang. "Oh hello!" the girl said extending her hand out to Trish, "I'm Rinoa." 

"Trish," she answered, hesitantly shaking Rinoa's hand, "You three know each other?" 

"Yea," Rinoa said brightly, "We all transferred here from Bal..." 

"Our parents worked at the same company back home and were transferred to the facility here," Squalled interrupted and his eyes moved from Rinoa and Zell as if sending a message to them. They seemed to understand the look and nodded in agreement. 

Trish nodded and turned her attention to the teacher who was taking attendance. The teacher finished taking attendance and started handing out the course description packets to the groups. The teacher, Mrs. Bullock, spent the rest of the class period explaining how she ran things in her class. The bell rang and the students quickly exited the room, Trish had almost made it out the door when she was tapped on the shoulder. 

"Hey," Zell said, "Do you know where I find...?" 

"137?" Trish finished for him. 

"Yea!" Zell said scratching his head, "How'd you know?" 

"I guessed, the English and History teachers are usually teamed together and after you have one you have the other," Trish explained. 

Zell nodded, "I see." 

"Good," Trish said continuing out of the room and to her next class. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

"Sit in the seat that has your name on it," said Mr. Bowen, the school band teacher. 

Trish slipped into her seat in the back where the rest of the drummers sat. Ciel was already there and looked up as Trish sat down, "Finally, the class I come to school for, Band." Trish said pulling a stand towards her to lean on it. 

"I know how ya feel girl," Ciel said searching through her bag for a bottle of water, "I'm so hungry, thank God I have lunch next." 

"You have lunch next period?" Trish asked, Ciel nodded. "me too." 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish and Ciel came out of the lunch line and searched for an empty table, they finally found one in the third section of the cafeteria. They plopped their trays down and were soon joined by one of Trish's friends Tom. 

"I never knew teacher's could be so boring!" Tom said in his British accent. 

"They get worse," Ciel said picking through her salad, "In college you'll have to sit through hours worth of boring old professors drone on about the same subject." 

A tall blond came in, Trish recognized him as Seifer the one that Zell didn't seem to like. He seemed to be looking to be looking for an empty table, mission impossible. The table where the three were sitting at had a few empty chairs so he sat in one of them and started eating his food. Soon after some people that Trish recognized came in, the dark-haired girl named Rinoa, the slow witted (or at least he seemed so) boy named Squall and Zell. There were two others that she didn't recognize, one was a bubbly brunette in a yellow dress that seemed a bit short and the other looked like he belonged in a rodeo. 

The bubbly brunette noticed Seifer sitting by himself and she directed the group in his direction. They plopped there things down at the table and sat down, forcing Trish, Ciel and Tom to move down. Seifer looked annoyed but continued to eat his lunch in silence, scowling down at his food. 

Ciel was none to happy to have people invade her space without at least asking, it would've been fine if they had asked first. "Hey !you mind," Ciel said gesturing to her friends who had their lunches on top of each others. 

"Hey Trish!" Zell said waving, "We're sorry, we can move down some. We shoulda asked first." 

"No prob," Ciel said going back to her salad, "Just so you know you people don't rule the world." 

"We never assumed we did," Squall said. 

"She didn't mean it literally," Trish said quickly trying to avoid a fight. 

"Hey Trish!" Tom said, "Guess what I have next period!" 

"I dunno, What?" Trish dipping a french fry in ketchup and popping it in her mouth. 

"Chem!" Tom said brightly, "I passed Bio! No more Dohber." 

"Cool," Trish said, "Who you got for chem?" 

"Malecki," Tom answered stuffing his milk carton into his fry cup, "I hope it's Mrs. Malecki, I hear her class is a breeze." 

"I got Malecki too," Trish said, "I might see ya there 

Seifer finished his lunch and stood up to throw it in the gray bin near the wall. He tossed it in and went towards the door, then a voice called out to him, "Hey Seifer where you going?" 

"Somewhere where you're not," he answered and continued on his way out. 

"Looks he doesn't like the preppies either," Ciel whispered causing Trish and Tom to laugh. 

Zell was sitting closer to where Trish and her friends were sitting. He noticed the three laughing and leaned over and asked, "What's so funny?" 

Trish looked over and said, "You." 

"Oh," Zell said and he was about to go back to his other conversation. "You got plans for tonight?" 

"Yes," Trish said taking a gulp of her soda, "Why do you ask?" 

"Just wonderin' if you'd be up to hang out after school?" Zell said. 

"Hanging out is most of my plans tonight," Trish said picking up her tray to get rid of it. 

"Mind if I join you?" Zell asked getting up to follow her. 

"I don't mind," Trish said dumping her tray into the garbage and went back to her seat, "I'll have to check with the others, they prolly won't mind too much. Hey Ciel, you mind if he comes with?" 

"If he's the only one," Ciel answered. 

"It's ok," she told Zell, "Meet us by the band room." 

"Where's the band room?" Zell asked. 

"Where you coming from?" Ciel asked. 

"Gym," Zell replied referring to his schedule. 

"Go to the 'Hall of Fame" it's on the opposite side on the gym from where the locker rooms are," Ciel instructed Zell nodded and listened intently, "Take the stairs that are on the right side, they are facing the quad doors. Go up one floor, take a right go down the hall that has the murals then you'll get to a wall and your basically there." 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Wow! It's longer than I thought it'd be. There's more, it's not written yet though. Now go and review, the button's right below this message. 


	2. day1: after school

A/N: My ideas and my friends I claim, Square claims the rest. I don't own Drew Carey, I just have a drumline instructor who happens to look like him. Please read and review, tell me what you think. 

**~ The New Students ~ **

* Day 1: After school * 

Trish walked into the band room and immediately went to the back where her band locker was. She opened the door and was met by a terrible smell. The guys need to clean out their crap. All the shelves inside were overflowing with clothes, past lunch remains, donut boxes and broken sticks along with a drum somewhere, except one shelf, hers. She shoved her bag inside and closed the door eliminating the stench. 

Zell was standing in front of the music wing door waiting for Trish and her friends. The dark haired girl who sat with her at lunch came up with her bag on one shoulder and a sweatshirt on her arm. She noticed him standing there, he immediately straightened up when he saw her glance over at him. 

"Just wait here," she instructed, "We'll be out in a minute." Zell nodded and the girl continued on to the band room. 

Zell leaned back against the wall and stared up the ceiling. A tall boy walked by and a few girls talking excitedly. Zell started humming a song he had heard on the radio that morning on his way to school. Soon he was in his own world as he got into the music. 

Trish turned around and saw Ciel walking in and she was soon followed by Tias. Ciel shoved her bags into Trish's locker a bit roughly. 

"Ready?" Trish asked, seeing that Ciel was a bit stressed. 

Ciel took a deep breath before answering, "Yea," she turned as if she was about leave then turned back around, "That guy from lunch is out in the hall, Zed or whatever his name is." 

"What guy?" Tias asked looking at Trish. 

"Some new kid," Trish replied, "He asked to tag along tonight." 

"Let's just go, I want some time to meditate before practice," Ciel said going out the door. 

The three left the room. Zell , who seemed to be in his little world, didn't notice them. They waited a few seconds, "Hey Zell!" Ciel called, "You comin'?" She waved her arm towards the back door. He jumped at the sound of her voice, and immediately followed the three as they went to the door. 

When they outside in the afternoon sun Ciel stopped and took a deep breath, "Trish," she said, "I need to bitch." 

"Go right ahead," Trish said hopping down to the pavement below the stairs. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish and Ciel walked out of the sandwich shop with their food in bags. Tias was teaching Zell how to play hack, it ended quickly when Zell kicked the small bean bag onto the roof. 

"Sorry," Zell said as he looked up to the roof where the hackey sack will remain, "I'll get ya a new one." 

"Don't worry about it," Tias said waving his hand away, "I got another one. Don't kick it so hard next time." 

"You should try out for the soccer team," Ciel said laughing, "You could be the one that kicks the field goals." 

"Ciel," Tias said staring at her like an unhappy teacher would at a stare a t a student who had gotten an easy question wrong, "That's football, you're at every home football game and you still don't know what a field goal is." 

"Hey it's not like I actually pay attention," Ciel said digging out her chips to start eating, "You know, I feel like going to the Amphitheater. We got time." 

"Where's the Amphitheater?" Zell asked bouncing as he walked. 

"Just down here," Trish answered. 

They walked through town laughing and joking, Ciel seemed to be in better spirits now. The town had put picnic tables on the island where the Amphitheater was built over the summer. Trish climbed on top of one leaned back on her hands with legs dangling over the edge and watched as a boat came into the lock. 

"You're supposed to sit on the bench, ya know." Ciel said pretending to scold as she too, climbed on top of the table. 

"You should skip practice tonight," Tias said as he sat down on the bench and leaned against Trish, "You can go with me and watch the fireworks." 

"I wish I could," Trish said as she unwrapped her sandwich, "but I can't, I won't be able to play on Saturday if I skip." 

"What sport do you play?" Zell asked he watched the same boat in the lock 

"Marching band," Trish said taking a bite into her salami sandwich, "I'm a quad drummer." 

"Marching band?" Zell asked slightly sarcastic causing Trish and Ciel to stop in the middle of chewing, "I didn't think it took much talent to walk down a street and play some instrument." 

"Trish," Ciel said. 

"We don't walk, we march., and it's not necessarily down a street it's on a field," Trish explained, "We're a competitive marching band." 

Zell had a blank look on his face, "So," He finally replied. 

"We practice three days a week for three hours each time," Trish decided to go for the 'I'm talking to stupid' approach when explaining the point of marching band, "We dedicate five months of hard work and determination for ten minutes of fame. We just go to the competitions on the weekends so we can go to championships. It takes a lot of talent to 'walk and play some instrument' .We are a very good band." 

"Sounds like something Rin or Selphie would be interested in," Zell said and started to air-box, then he stopped abruptly and stared at something across the river, "Quis?" he whispered. 

"What's the matter with you," Ciel asked drinking her diet Pepsi and looking in the same direction he was looking in "Hey isn't that guy who was sitting at our table before they came? What did that girl call him Seifer?" There was a young blonde woman in the park practicing something like tai-chi, there was also a familiar looking blonde teen sitting on one of the benches watching her. He was wearing a long gray trench coat with red markings on it and dark clothing despite the late summer heat. 

"I'll be right back," Zell said before he sprinted off and was gone for a few seconds before he came back panting, "How do you get over there?" 

"You can swim or you follow the street that way then take a left at the light," Tias said pointing and Zell was off again, "What a fruit." Tias said laughing, "Where did you find him?" 

"Hey I found you guys!" an all too familiar voice called out. 

Trish and Ciel turned to see who the owner of the voice was, it was Adam Davis but everyone calls him Ding. 

"Ding !Everywhere I go, you're there!" Ciel asked wrapping up the garbage left over from her dinner, "What's so urgent you had to some search us out, couldn't it wait until we got back?" 

"I was annoyin' people," Adam said as he leaned up against a nearby tree, 'nothing new' Tias muttered, "What was that Tias!" 

"Nothing," Tias said mockingly, "Just talking to Trish, it's none of your business." 

"Whatever," Adam muttered and he examined the opposite river bank where the park was, "What's goin' on over there?" 

The other three turned to watch an interesting scene play out in the park. Zell and Seifer seemed to have gotten into a brawl. The girl had managed to break the two up, and it looked like she was scolding them. Zell hung his head but Seifer stood back with his arms crossed over his broad chest, he looked almost amused. 

"That guy seems like a real creep," Adam said and he dug the toe of his sneaker into the dirt. 

"Like someone else I know," Tias said and he got up and held his hand to Trish. She took it, he tugged her up and pulled her close, "Let's go for a walk," he whispered but somehow Adam heard and Ciel, who was watching could practically see his blood boil. 

"I'll come with," Adam said and he straightened to his full height. 

"Ding, I think they want some time alone," Ciel said grabbing his wrist so he wouldn't follow the couple. 

"I hate the fact that she likes him," he muttered to his lap. 

"Don't tell me that you like her again," Ciel said tossing her garbage in the barrel. 

"No," Adam said shaking his head, "It's just that he's total ass and she deserves better. How can she stand to be around someone so rude to her friends." 

"I totally agree with you," Ciel said sitting back down at the table, "But he's only rude when you're around, and you dish it right back. She's not totally oblivious, she knows you two don't like each other and she's willing to split up her time between you two. She hates to do it, but I know for a fact that if it got to the point where the two of you were physically fighting she would choose her friendship over her boyfriend." 

"Hmph," 

"Just don't let him get to you," Ciel said getting up and brushing herself off, "Let's get back to the school," 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

"Can't you two be around each other and not throw punches!" a petit blond young woman scolded teen boys that were twice her size who were cringing slightly, "We are here for a reason, have you been carrying out your part of the mission. 

Zell nodded and Seifers smirk told Quistis that he completing his part in his own way, "Now if you two want to beat the each other to a pulp, find somewhere else to do it." Quistis turned and left the two standing there to watch her leave. 

"I have things to do," Seifer said and he left Zell standing there still staring where Quistis once was. When he finally came out of it he looked around before sighing to himself and he decided to head back to the house he was staying at. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Seifer sat on the edge of the asphalt path under the oak tree. The snare drummer's rim shots echoing throughout the campus. He was supposed to join some sort of extracurricular group, he decided the marching band would be the easiest and it was the only group that was required to allow all students to participate. When he had spoken to the director he learned they were in need of a replacement bottom bass player, their previous bass player got busted for drug use and was suspended from the band. The parts were easy enough to learn and memorize, drill would be a cinch he would just follow the others. Seifer glanced at his watch, better go down and introduce myself. 

As Seifer jogged down the hill to the music wing entrance the snare drummers stopped what they were practicing to see who the new kid was. 

"Ok guys," Trish said trying to regain the drummer's attentions again, "He's not gonna help you play your show better. One more time then we'll take a break before practice starts." The boys groaned as they went back to attention and waited for the tap off to finish before going through the solo again. 

Seifer shook his head he heard the drummers play through the part again, _I'm glad I'm not like that. _

"Hey could you tell me where the percussion instructor is?" Seifer asked a dark haired girl who was sitting and talking with some other people. 

"Either in the office or the percussion room," the girl said pointing the band room which was filled with several students milling about waiting for practice to start. 

He nodded a thanks before going in the room, he scanned the room and saw a tiny room that had several adults inside. Seifer pushed his through a group of girls chatting and knocked on the door to the office. 

"Is there a Mr. Bridge or Mr. Cutler here," Seifer asked politely, he was amazed by his manners. 

"You must be the new bass drummer we ordered," a man who looked very much like Drew Carey said standing up, "I'm Pete." 

"Uh yea, I guess so," Seifer said, "Nice to meet you I'm Seifer." 

"Yea," Pete said and he looked around Seifer's bulk at a girl who had walked by, "Hey Trish!" 

"Yea Pete," Trish said leaning around Seifer who stepped aside. 

"Fit ah," Pete said gesturing to Seifer, "Stephen for a bass drum harness, he's our new bottom bass." 

Trish looked the tall teen up and down before turning around signaling for him to follow. She made her way through the room around the several groups of people who were lounging about talking. Seifer followed a few paces behind and was stopped several times by somebody walking in front of him. He was about to lose his temper when he nearly ran over Trish who had stopped in front of a door decorated with several stickers and pictures, one could almost make out the label 'Percussion Room' painted in black beneath it all. 

"So Stephen.." Trish began. 

"Seifer," Seifer interrupted, " My name's Seifer." 

"Seifer," Trish started again, "How long have you been playing?" 

"I started last year at my old school," Seifer answered. 

Trish rolled her eyes before pushing the door open revealing a tiny storage room with metal shelves that held several black boxes that looked as if they would fall down if a slight breeze came through. Seifer watched as Trish climbed up onto the counter and reached up and pulled down a gray metal harness and then jumped down to the ground and went to a shelve that held five drums lined up increasing size. She turned the biggest drum over until two hooks were facing forward, she hooked the harness on with practiced motions. 

"Put this on," She commanded stepping back so he could get to the drum. Seifer picked the drum up and placed the metal harness over his shoulders. The drum was heavier than he expected but he stood up straight anyway. Trish went around to his side and examined the position of the harness, "Take it off," Trish commanded, Seifer obeyed and Trish grabbed a wrench out of a tool box that was sitting on the counter and she loosened the nuts on the spacer that separated the two pieces of the harness and removed the bolts. She put the top half back on Seifer's shoulders and slid the bottom half up until it was resting on his lower abdomen just above his hips. She a bolt in the top hole and took the harness off Seifer and reassembled the harness and attached it back on the drum. 

"Ok, pick it up again and put it on," Trish said, Seifer sighed before picking the drum back up to put it on his shoulders, "Is it digging into you?" 

"No," Seifer said shaking his head. 

"Ok," Trish said checking her watch, "Let's go, we're late. Oh wait a minute." 

"What now?" Seifer said stopping quickly almost hitting Trish in the back. 

Trish ignored him and pushed past the drum to a plastic bin filled with several odd looking drumsticks. She pulled out two and handed them to Seifer, "You'll need these." 

Seifer took them and held them like tiny baseball bats, one in each hand. Trish let out and exasperated sigh as she pulled a pair of drumsticks out of her back pocket and modeled the correct grip for him, "You hold them like this," she watched as he corrected his hands and she nodded. "Attention is the first lug above the harness hooks," Trish instructed and she placed his hands where they were supposed to be and like most people he gripped his thumbs onto the drum, "Don't do that, Pete will flip. Ok now ready is in the middle of the drum. Let's go, I'm in no mood to do push ups." 

Seifer followed and noticed he had little view of what was in front him. He hit several chairs and tripped over cases and bags on his way out the door. 

"How do you expect people to walk with this thing on?" Seifer growled after a chair came dangerously close to his groin area. 

"It's easy," Trish said nonchalantly, she held the outside door for Seifer, "If you walk with your back straight you can see enough to know what's coming. Watch your step." She warned a bit too 

late, Seifer kept walking and the ground dropped out from beneath him and he stumbled, luckily Trish caught him before he fell. 

"Thanks for the warning," he muttered. 

"You'll stand to the right behind the end quad, next to the blond girl with the visor," Trish said picking up her drum and slipping it on her shoulders and took her spot in between the two quad players. 

Pete and another instructor carrying a red binder and a pair of drumsticks and had a red hat on, "How about a quick session of march or die?" Pete asked setting his metronome on the ground, "I have to go with pit until Katie gets here, bring them over at 7:00 so we can ensemble. 

There was a collective groan from half the line, Seifer was one of the few who didn't complain. "Yea sure, why not." He said his fellow bass drummers glared at the new bass drummer. 

"Whoa we have a fifth bass drummer!" red hat said, "You're ignorant, I like you. Call me Dave." 

"Seifer," Seifer responded, _this shouldn't be too bad_. 

"Ok," Dave said clasping his hands on top of his head, "We'll start you off easy I guess, hm?" 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

A/N:Longer than I expected I know it took me a while to update this thing. I promise that the story will start to move along faster soon. Thanks for reading, please please please review. 


	3. what would you do?

A/N: We left off with Trish and Seifer at practice, that was Wednesday night. The start of this chapter is on Saturday before their first competition. 

Time for a shout-out(just had to put this in!): blissfullyinsane a.k.a Lauren you of all people should know what kind of town we live in. I really enjoyed your 'lovely' review, I never knew you thought so highly of me. 

***~The New Students~***

*~What would you do?~* 

_9:00 is too damn early. This shit is harder than I thought, it just makes me want to prove that I can do it. They already think I'm hopeless. I'll show them, I'll march the whole show and play all_ _the damn music_. Seifer had arrived just in time for the drumline meeting, the rest of the drumline was waiting for him in the cramped percussion. Seifer muttered and apology and he stood in front of his drum that was still on the shelf like the others. 

"Guys, and ladies, girls, chics," Pete started like he did every meeting, "It's the first competition. Time to show how well you know the show. Some parts still need to be learned, which we will work on, but in all other respects I think we know the show. Try and be cooperative today snares." 

Seifer shot a glance over at the snare drummers, he noticed the smug look they all wore. _They're_ _planning something_. Seifer turned and lifted "The Beast" as it was affectionately named onto his shoulders. He was reminded of how heavy it was and of all the bruises that were still sore from the last practice. 

"Seifer?" Dave called his name making Seifer turn his head to regard the young instructor, " Do you want to bring stand outside with you?" 

"I'll be fine," Seifer said and he continued on out into the band room. He noticed the other drummers had each grabbed a black music stand on their way out. Seifer placed his mallets on his harness and picked one up as well, he made his way out without hitting anything this time. He was fine until he came to the outside door, he ran into the pole, causing his harness to dig painfully into his stomach. 

He groaned as he lined himself up and slowly went out banging the stand on the side of the door and his shins. Seifer was the last one into block. 

"Ok, drummers," Dave said looking around at the other band members who were rushing to get to their sectionals, "One downbeat," Seifer was confused but he copied what the others around him did. It was horrible downbeat, "That was pathetic! What happened to my drumline!" 

Pete led the drumline down the parking lot and up a small hill and the drumline formed an arc and the center snare did a tap off. At the end the drumline started playing, except Seifer, he seemed to have misplaced his mallets. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around quickly. 

"I think you might need these," Dave said handing Seifer his mallets, "You dropped them, you should keep better track of them." 

Seifer took the mallets and jumped in on the next right hand. Pete came by and fixed the way he was playing several times. Seifer started to let his mind wander when the whole line stopped playing and he was left playing, redness crept up the back of his neck as he stopped. 

"Gotta pay attention," Dave said opening his binder, "Kay, 'nough of that shit, let's get into the music. Start at the beginning and play until I stop you." 

The drummers played the piece with only a few mishaps, mostly from bottom bass drummer. Pete flipped through his notebook and picked out some parts that needed work more than others. They ran the section several times before both Dave and Pete were satisfied with the improvements. 

"How about some march or die before ensemble?" Dave asked picking up his binder. There was a collective groan from the line. "Oh stop your complaining, We'll follow the road down to the elementary school bus circle go around that a couple of times, then around the junior high and the bus circle down there, then up the path to the JV field. Pay attention for direction changes, exercise changes." Dave climbed into the back of Pete's truck and the snares followed behind the truck with the rest of the line following 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

"Where'd Seifer go?" Zell asked coming down the stairs where the rest of his friends were sitting. 

"He had practice," Irvine said, "Then some sort of competition later." 

Zell stared at the clock on the wall, "At 11:00 in the morning?" he said in disbelief. 

"He left at about 8:30," Quistis said putting down her book, "He said he might have found someone we can take back with us." 

"Maybe we could go to the competition," Rinoa said turning away from the TV, "We might be able to find some others." 

"That sounds like fun! I definitely want to go!" Selphie said bounding down the stairs, "Irvy....you'll come with me....right?" 

"Yea sure," Irvine said pulling Selphie down into his lap causing her to squeal. 

"We should all go then," Rinoa said kneeling on the couch, "and we can surprise Seifer." 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

The bus was already full and loud by the time Trish got on the bus. She shoved her bag on the floor and sat down, leaning against the window with her feet resting on the seat and she closed her eyes in attempt to sleep. 

"Mind if I sit with you?" a male voice said. 

Trish opened one eye to see who was talking, "Yea sure." Trish faced forward and propped her knees on the seat in front of her. 

"I got a hypothetical question for you," Seifer said as he sat down, "What would you do if got the chance to go on the greatest adventure of your life?" 

"What kind of adventure?" Trish asked slightly interested. 

"I dunno....let's say you.....um travel to a distant planet," Seifer said thinking of how to make it sound interesting, "and you help a group of people fight an evil so great it could destroy the universe." 

"Seifer!" Trish exclaimed startling the blond, "I never knew you had an imagination. I dunno, I'd probably go for it if I had the opportunity. What about you?" 

"I would definitely go," Seifer said, "I never pass up the opportunity to be a hero." 

"How would we get to this distant planet?" Trish asked. 

"A military spaceship," Seifer said, "It would look like a dragon." 

"Cool," Trish said, "How would I help fight? I would need a weapon." 

"You can choose any kind of weapon you can think of," Seifer said exaggerating it by waving his arms in a wide circle almost smacking Ciel in the head. 

"Hey watch it!" Ciel yelled over the seat. 

Trish suppressed her laughter, "Then I would choose a double ended sword, twice the blade for the protection." 

"Good choice," Seifer said nodding, "I, personally, would choose a sword that had a gun on it, two hits in one move." 

"A sword with a gun?" Trish said trying to envision it in her mind, "Yea, you could call it a gun-blade." 

" 'Cuz it has a blade and a gun," Seifer said chuckling, "You are a clever one." 

"Wouldn't it be cool if you could really do something like that?" Trish said resting her head one the back of the seat. 

_If she only knew she could._

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

"Party at my place!" Nikki, a colorguard girl shouted over the noise in the band room. 

"You wanna check it out?" Ciel said shoving her drum with it still in its case on the shelf. 

"Sure why not?" Trish said hanging her harness on the shelf above her drums, "See ya later guys." 

Trish followed Ciel out the percussion room. Seifer was putting his drum on the shelf when some people came into the room. 

"Nice show Seifer," one of them called out startling him and he nearly dropped his harness. 

"What're you guys doing here?" He asked as he put his harness on top of the gray case. 

"We wanted to congratulate you of course," Squall said, "And we have some important news." 

"Thanks...I guess," Seifer picked up his pack and tried to leave, "What kind of news?" 

"We have a few problems," Quistis said, "I think it would be better if we went somewhere else." 

Seifer looked around the room, all the drums were there and the harnesses, there were no bags left, "Close the door we can talk here. The rooms sound proof." 

Zell pushed the door closed revealing some drawings done in marker on the wall, "We have to leave sooner than expected," Squall said. 

"How soon," Seifer narrowing his eyes. 

"A week," Rinoa answered, "Which means we're gonna have to hurry in getting the people who are capable and willing." 

"Which is not much of a problem," Squall said, "The only problem is getting them to where the portal will be." 

"How many people will be able to go through?" Seifer asked. 

"Besides us, six others can go through." Irvine said, "How many people do you have as possibilities?" 

"As of today......one," Seifer said, "Should we tell her today? If we do, we have to find her now." 

"Ok, we'll meet you out front," Squall said opening the door letting Seifer out. 

"Hey you!" a girls voice shouted from the back of the band room, Seifer turned around and had a piece of paper shoved in his face, "Come to my party, everyone's coming." 

"Like who?" Seifer asked taking the paper. 

"Kirby, Trish, her friend Ciel, umm some other people.....like I said everyone's coming!" the girl said and she pointed to the paper, "That is directions to my place and there's a map too in case you get lost.......Hey wait a minute! come to my party." The girl ran off to catch up with someone. 

Seifer went outside just as Trish was driving off, _Shit_. Seifer looked around for his car and saw Squall and the others leaning against the car parked next to it. He jogged over to the car, "We just missed her, she's going to a party....I got the directions right here." 

"Let's go," Squall said getting into his car. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Seifer wove through the groups of people trying to find Trish, he finally found her in the back of the room near an open screen door with a group of her friends talking and enjoying themselves. 

"I need to talk to you," Seifer said coming up behind causing her to jump slightly, "Alone." He added looking around at the others. 

"Hey anything you need to say to her, you can say it to her here," a boy said, looking Seifer in the eye. 

Seifer met his stare and nodded slightly before lowering his face down to whisper something in Trish's ear. "What d'you think you're doing!" the boy said shoving him away, "Keep away from my girlfriend!" 

All Trish do could was stare down at Seifer on the floor confused, He can't be serious. Trish bent down and helped Seifer up then dragged him out the door. 

"Trish!" Tias said. 

"Chill out!" she called over her shoulder. Trish dragged Seifer over to a shed that was in the backyard. "What would you do if you got the chance to go on the greatest adventure of your life?" 

"You said you'd go," Seifer replied crossing his arms over his chest. 

"I thought it was just some dumb conversation," Trish replied. 

Seifer shrugged his shoulders, "I'm leaving next Friday night." 

"Your can't be serious," Trish said and she searched his face for any evidence of it being a joke, his features looked as thought they were molded to look as serious as anyone could be, "You are70; Look, I'm gonna need some time to think about it....to decide even if I believe you." 

"Decide by Friday," Seifer said turning to leave, "Don't make a decision you'll regret, this really is the adventure of a lifetime for someone like you." 

Trish was left standing outside as Seifer climbed into his sleek black car and drove off. She let out a sigh and decided to go back in. 

"Hey Trish what's wrong?" Ciel asked noticing her friends troubled face. 

"I wanna get home before it gets too late," Trish answered. 

"Ok," Ciel said coming towards, "What happened out there?" 

"Hey Trish I need a ride home," Tias said catching up, "What did that creep do to you out there?" 

"Nothing," Trish replied automatically. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish awoke with a start, she groaned she felt around her table for her phone in the dark. 

"Hello?" she said. 

"Hey sorry for calling you so late," the familiar voice said on the other end of the line, "What's going on, what happened out there?" 

"Nothing," Trish said sleepily. 

"You're a horrid liar," Ciel said, "Tell me now, there is no way in hell 'nothing' could cause that kind of reaction from you." 

Trish yawned before replying, "What would you do if you got the chance to go on the adventure of your life?" 

"What?" Ciel said confused. 

"That's what he asked me on the way back from C. Square," Trish said. 

"He was probably on something," Ciel said. 

"He didn't look high," Trish said leaning against the wall. 

"So what would happen on this 'adventure'?" Ciel asked. 

"I dunno, he said something about traveling to some distant planet to fight an evil so great it could destroy the universe," Trish said. 

"That boy's got some problems," Ciel said. 

"He seemed like he was serious," Trish said. 

"You don't believe him do you?" Ciel asked. 

"I dunno," Trish sighed, "I'm tired, I'm going back to sleep. See ya Monday." 

"See ya," Ciel said. Trish pressed the end button on her cell phone and laid back down and immediately fell into a dreamless sleep. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Now that you took the time to read my story, what's a couple seconds more? Review it, tell me what you think? 


	4. Taking Time

A/N: We left off with our quasi-hero sleeping somewhat peacefully. Lotsa things should happen in this chapter, I hope so at least. There are gonna be some minor characters that play a major role(that prolly doesn't make sense but oh well.) Well on you go. btw:i'm poor, I'm only borrowing Square's characters so don't sue you'll only get broken drumsticks. 

***~The New Students~* **

*~Taking Time~* 

Trish woke up around 3:30 Monday morning, she crawled out from underneath the warm covers and stretched. She sat down at her computer and pressed the power button bringing the machine to life. Her buddy list popped up with a list of reminders for her, a doctors appointment for today, forgot about that. In the next room she heard her dad get up and go downstairs to start the coffee. Trish checked her email, the sound of her phone ringing startled her and she quickly answered it. 

"Go back to bed," Trish heard her mother call out. 

"Hello?" Trish whispered into the phone ignoring her mom. 

"Hey I was hoping you'd be up," a familiar voice said over the phone. 

"Tias," Trish said perking up slightly, "What's up?" 

"Not much, just wanted to talk to you," he replied sheepishly. 

"I'm not gonna be in school today," Trish said remembering the appointment. 

"The whole day or just part of the day?" Tias asked. 

"I don't know," Trish said, "I'll come if I feel like it." 

"Ok, I'll just call ya after school," Tias answered, BEEP! "I got a call on the other line, I'll talk to ya later. Bye" 

"Bye," Trish said and she hung up. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish walked into the band room to find Ciel practicing like she did every study hall. She briefly looked up from her music when Trish waved. Trish listened to the music recognizing it, she shook her head and laughed to herself. _She must really like that piece_. Trish dropped her bag in the back of the room and decided to go for a walk before band started. 

She strolled absent-mindedly through the quiet halls, the voices of teachers lecturing trying to get the students to understand wafted out of the classrooms. The shrill ring of the bell startled her momentarily as the room doors opened and the students flowed out into the hall. Trish went up the stairs and was met by Zell, Rinoa and Squall walking down the hall. 

"Hey Trish," Zell called out, "Missed ya in English and history." 

"Am I that entertaining?" Trish asked laughing. 

"Where are you going now?" Rinoa asked. 

"I got band this period." Trish answered. 

"Oh, fun. Can people listen if they want?" Rinoa asked enthusiastically. 

"If they want, I guess." Trish replied somewhat perplexed by the girl's enthusiasm, "I'm gonna go down now, I'll see ya later." 

"See ya," Zell replied as the Trish went towards another set of stairs. 

They are one odd group of people. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish wove through the crowd looking for her boyfriend and almost gave up until she spotted him in front of the display cases. She smiled as she made her way through the rush of students wanting to get out of the school as fast as possible. Trish halted amidst the flow and the smile faded, Tias was leaning against the wall and had a girl Trish didn't recognize leaning against him. He was whispering something in her ear that made her giggle and toss her hair in a way that made Trish want to vomit. Trish took a couple deep breaths to calm herself down before she continued on, she was three steps away when he finally noticed. The flirty smile he was wearing disappeared just seconds before Trish's hand made contact with the side of his face, leaving a bright resemblance of her hand. 

"Good bye," was all Trish was able to get out through gritted teeth and she quickly spun on her heel and walked off leaving the Tias with a remorseful stare and the girl with a look to kill. 

Ciel was witness to the scene and was about to go over and do the same but was surprised when she saw Trish go up and slap him. "Way to go, Trish!" she called out and Trish stopped and looked around until she found who had called out her name. Ciel caught up with and noticed pissed her friend really was, "Just to let ya know, I was on my way over to do the same thing. I must be rubbing off on you." 

Trish cracked a slight smile as she continued walking again, several girls congratulating her on her conflict with Tias, until she ran into a gray and black pillar she never noticed before. She looked up at who she hit ready to apologize or flatten depending on who it was. Seifer. His trademark smirk was plastered on his features. 

"What?" Trish snapped before he could open his mouth. 

"Well I did want to talk with you but," Seifer said his smirk getting wider, "But after that I don't think its safe." 

Trish rolled her eyes and she pushed past his bulk, and he watched her go shocked until Ciel turned around and gestured for him to follow. He caught up with the girls as they went down the stairs. They didn't talk until they reached the warm sun outside, Trish raised her face as if she soaking in its goodness. Breathing a sigh still furious but somewhat tamer she turned to Seifer. 

"What's on your mind?" She asked trying to be pleasant. 

"Let's go to the park and talk about it," Seifer said and he cast a look at Ciel before he added, "Privately." 

"Unless you want to run the risk of getting your neck broken," Ciel said, "You might want to consider having someone else along." 

Seifer saw her point and nodded in agreement. The three walked along the sidewalk through town and when they got to the park it was empty. Trish went and sat on the railing of the gazebo with her bag at her feet. Seifer straddled the bench and Ciel sat on the floor. They were silent for a few moments before Seifer spoke. 

"By now you probably think I'm a psycho," Seifer said chuckling. 

"No," Ciel replied, "But I do think you're a pothead." 

"Do you even know what I'm talking about?" Seifer asked. 

"The whole adventure thing right?" Ciel asked. 

"How d'you know about that?" he asked. 

"I told her," Trish said, "I don't keep things from my friends." 

"Well," Seifer said slowly as he chose his words for what he was about to say next, "We thought you might need some more convincing so we decided to give this to you." Seifer pulled a small hard cover book out of his trench coat. 

Ciel grabbed it and read the title before Seifer could hand it too Trish, "History of the World," she read. 

Trish snatched it away from her and opened it to the first page. There was a map of the world and table of contents. She skimmed the table of contents, first and second Sorceress War, the rise and fall of Hyne, Galbadia, Trabia, Lunar Cry, Centra, SeeD and Garden. She looked over at Seifer skeptically, "SeeD and Garden? Whose idea was that?" 

"Headmaster Cid and Sorceress Edea," Seifer answered, "SeeD is the code name for the mercenary soldiers that are trained in Garden.I grew up in the original Garden, Balamb" 

"What do they do?" Ciel asked. 

"They defend the world against the Sorceress," Seifer stated simply. 

"Which is the person who founded it," Trish said questioningly, "Why would someone create something that would destroy them?" 

"She knew it would happen and she didn't want to be responsible for the destruction of the world." Seifer answered, "She's not a sorceress anymore though, she passed her powers on to Rinoa." 

"The girl with the black hair?" Ciel asked, she had become very confused. 

"Can I still get in on this adventure," Trish asked after a few moments of silence. 

"What?!" Ciel exclaimed, Seifer was equally shocked. 

"I want to see if it's real," Trish said, "I won't believe it until I see it and if I don't see it, I'll always wonder." 

"If you're going," Ciel said not totally believing that she was going to go along with it, "then I'm coming too." 

The girls looked up Seifer to gauge his reaction, "Then it's settled, we just need four more." 

"How many are you planning on taking?" Trish asked narrowing her eyes. 

"Each squad has to bring back 3," Seifer answered. 

"How do you get six then?" Ciel asked standing up. 

"There was two squads and a captain that were sent here and there were several others sent throughout the world," Seifer said remembering the mission briefing he went through only a month ago. "We leave Friday night. You might want to bring a knapsack or something to carry supplies in." 

"Umm...OK," Ciel said as she started having regrets about agreeing to it, "hey don't we have sectionals tonight?" 

"Shit I forgot!" Trish said hopping off the railing, "we gotta get back." 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Seifer caught up with Trish and Ciel as they were walking to Trish's car, "Hey, mind if I bum a ride?" He asked uncertainly. 

Trish shrugged her shoulders, "Where's your place?" She asked. 

"Ellison road," Seifer answered. 

"Oh, yea sure," Trish said, "That's close to where I live." 

The three were suddenly confronted by an odd pair, Mika and Katya. Katya wore her usual annoying smirk Mika's expression seemed to reflect no emotion as the two approached. 

Mika was the first to speak, "You're going on a journey soon," she said as if she were some prophetess, "We come with warnings." 

"Beware the psychotic African pirates," Katya said with a cackle that made a shiver run down their spines. 

The three regarded the two with most apprehension and disgust. Mika tossed her fluorescent pink hair causing several of her earrings to jingle as she sighed, she knew they didn't believe them. Katya began to stroke the pink bunny slipper she wore as a puppet. 

"You will be going to a land where deserts are ruled by the warlords on wheeled ships," Mika said mysteriously, "An encounter with them could result in your demise." 

Ciel rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, "We don't have time for this nonsense." 

"Yes, I know Otis," Katya said almost lovingly to the slipper, "the mortals don't believe us, even though their survival depends on it." 

"If you stay clear of the mountain that resembles that of a dragon you'll be fine," Mika added as she roughly grabbed her friend to pull back into the darkness causing her polka dotted hat to fall off revealing orange and blue striped hair. 

"Those two always freaked me out," Ciel said as she pulled open the passenger side door and climbed into the blue car. 

Trish just shrugged her shoulders as she went to the drivers side and climbed, Seifer was still letting the girls word sink in. Trish started the car and waited a couple of moments for Seifer to get in before she blasted the horn, Seifer shook his head before he realized what the noise was. He quickly opened the back door and slid into the back seat. Trish put the car in reverse and shot out of the parking spot, stopping only to put the car into drive she then peeled out of the parking lot leaving a cloud of dust behind the car. 

Trish dropped Ciel off outside her apartment, "See you guys tomorrow! Thanks for the ride," she called as she let herself into the building. Trish pulled out of the driveway and down the rode and was caught by the stoplight. Trish drummed on the steering wheel as she waited for the light to change. 

"Mind if I take the front seat?" Seifer asked from the back seat pulling Trish out of her thoughts. 

"Go ahead," she said as Seifer got out of the back seat and into the front seat. 

He closed the door just as the last car passed through the intersection and the light turned green. Trish eased the car forward and she let it pick up speed as she guided it down the street. She turned on the radio and music from her favorite station filled the car. The two rode in silence as they followed the street out of the village and into the countryside. 

"You don't have any second thoughts?" Seifer asked as Trish made a left turn. 

"Not yet," she answered truthfully, "Should I?" 

"I don't know," Seifer said shrugging his massive shoulders. 

"How are we getting there?" Trish asked after a moment of silence. 

"The same way we got here," Seifer stated, "Dr .Odine will be able to open a portal, I guess that's what it's called, we'll go through in twos, a SeeD and a recruit. We'll be sent to the closest planet in between Earth and our world. We're not sure exactly where we'll land but the doctor has been able to define the coordinates so we'll at least land on the same continent as the Ragnorak....." 

"Ragno-what?" Trish interrupted. 

"Ragnorak," Seifer repeatedly slowly, "It's a military ship that the Esthar military designed, it came into the possession of SeeD near the end of the Second Sorceress War when Squall found it and used it to get back to Esthar. When we get to the planet we have to locate the Ragnorak and get there as soon as possible." 

"Why go through in twos?" Trish asked she turned on to Ellison road. 

"So the recruits will have someone to train them for the mission," Seifer answered, "It's the first house on the right after the bridge." 

Trish nodded, "It still sounds like something out of a bad adventure movie," she said laughing, "this one?" 

"Yep," Seifer said as Trish pulled into the driveway of an old Victorian house. 

"Is anything Mika said true?" Trish asked, "Like about the desert and the wheeled ships?" 

"I don't know," Seifer said, "I haven't been to where we're going. Unknown possibilities are what make an adventure so intriguing" 

"Great," Trish said in mock exasperation, "I'll see ya tomorrow." 

"Night," Seifer replied as he climbed out of the car and shut the door. He watched as Trish backed out of the driveway and waved before she drove off. I'm going to like this mission. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish slammed her locker closed after ninth period Friday afternoon, she had to go home to get ready to leave that evening. She slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and started down the hall and hadn't gotten very far before she ran into Ciel. 

"Could we stop off at my place so I can grab my other bag?" Ciel asked. 

"Yea," Trish said, "Are you as nervous as I am right about now?" 

"I'm starting to have second thoughts," Ciel admitted. 

"Me too," Trish agreed, "Seifer and them aren't giving us much info on what we're supposed to do." 

"Have you been reading that book Seifer gave you?" Ciel asked. 

"No," Trish answered, "It's not like it was assigned reading." She added after getting a shocked look from Ciel. 

"Don't worry I won't tell teach on ya," Ciel said laughing. 

Trish drove over to Ciel's house to get her bag and then she headed home. On the way her cell phone rang, Ciel answered it and Trish turned the volume on the radio down. 

"Hey, talk to me," Ciel said into the phone, "..yea hold on. It's Seifer" 

Trish took the phone from Ciel, "Hey." 

"Are you gonna be home soon?" Seifer asked immediately. 

"Yea, gonna be there in like two minutes," Trish answered, "why?" 

" 'Cuz, we're gonna be pickin' you up," Seifer replied, "Was that Ciel who answered the phone?" 

"Yea," Trish said as she turned onto her road. 

"Ok," Seifer said, " See ya in a few." With that he hung up. 

Trish glanced up at her rearview mirror, the same car was behind her she couldn't see the driver well enough to tell who they were. "You recognize that car?" 

Ciel looked in the mirror, "Not really, I wouldn't worry about it." 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Seifer made a sharp turn into Trish's driveway causing everybody in the car to be thrown to the opposite of the car. 

"Whoa," Irvine said as he pushed himself back into the middle of his seat, "Take it easy Seifer!" 

"Sorry," Seifer muttered, the front door of the house opened and two girls came out, Ciel and Trish. "We haven't got much time." 

"Don't worry 'bout it Seifer," Irvine said as he watched the girls approach the car, "Nida said that the portal can't close until he shuts it down." 

"Nice turn Seifer," Trish commented as she got into the black car, "I think there were two tires still touching the pavement." 

"Just get in," Seifer grumbled. 

Ciel slammed the door after she climbed in and Seifer backed out of the driveway and sped off down the road. He drove through the countryside, constantly checking the rearview mirror the same dark blue car was following him again. He occasionally made a turn until he stopped in front of a cornfield close to where Trish dropped Seifer off earlier in the week. Irvine and Seifer climbed out of the car and the confused passenger followed suit. 

"Jus' follow us," Irvine drawled as he picked his way through the corn stalks. 

The group followed the cowboy through the field until it ended and there was a small shed and some crates. Squall, Selphie, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis and some other guy Trish didn't recognize but she figured he was Nida. Trish scanned the area, nothing looking much like what she would imagine to look like a portal was anywhere close by. Squall was the first to speak. 

"You'll be going to a totally different world than what you're used to," Squall started, "There'll be more dangers, ones that you've never experienced. We providing you with a weapon that you can choose to use throughout the mission or once we arrive on our planet you can buy a new one. If you each will take a weapon out of the crate we'll start people going through the portal." 

One by one the six teens went up and pulled a machine gun out of the wooden box. Each one had a strap and they slung the gun over their shoulders. Trish noticed the weapons that the SeeDs were carrying, Squall and Seifer were carrying similar looking weapons, Zell didn't appear to have a weapon but he was wearing red gloves, Selphie was carrying two sticks connected by a chain, Irvine had a rifle, Rinoa a something that resembled a cross-bow, and Quistis had a whip of some sort. They all had small devices strapped their wrists. 

"You were assigned to a SeeD," Squall continued, "They will train you and teach how to use GF's, magic and how to fight. Any questions?" 

"What's a GF?" a girl with blond hair asked. 

"Guardian Force," Quistis answered, "We summon them during battle, we use their powers to defeat our enemies." 

"If that's all we'll start with our first pair," Nida said in a quiet voice, "Selphie, you'll go first." 

"Booyaka!" Selphie cheered as she rushed forward and grabbed Ciel by the wrist, "C'mon!" The hyper girl said as she dragged a reluctant Ciel behind her. Selphie finally paused, "Now hold on," she said almost bubbling over with excitement, "don't wanna lose each other in the portal." Ciel just rolled her eyes before she was dragged past Nida and into what Trish thought was just normal forest, the girls disappeared. 

Squall shook his in slight disappointment, "You'll have to excuse Selphie, she's been anxious to get home. Seifer you'll go next." 

Seifer nodded, "C'mon Trish." Trish came forward, she had been trying to hide her nervousness but her efforts were starting to prove to be futile. She could barely walk. 

"Don't worry Trish," Zell said trying to calm her down, "Seifer's nothing like Selphie, he'll take good care of ya." 

"You have to go now," Squall said. 

"Ready?" Seifer asked. Trish nodded and Seifer took her wrist in his right hand and wrapped his left arm around her waist. He led her forward and through the portal. 

Trish closed her eyes just before entering the portal, it felt like she walking into gelatin. Everything seemed calm for a few moments, "Hold on" she heard Seifer say. Then all of sudden it felt like she was in a tornado and they were sucked up and spiraled forward. Trish was about to faint when she landed on a hard surface. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Someone was watching the scene from the corn stalks. They saw Ciel being dragged forward and she disappeared and the same done to Trish. It took all will power to stay hidden, they watched from their crouched position as the rest of them were led he same way. The last two left was the two quiet guys, one who seemed to be leader and the hidden watcher recognized him and other they did not. After the last girl was led through by a cowboy, the two guys went into the shed, the watcher took the chance to dash into the space the others had disappeared into. It was Tias, he was sucked up into the vortex. Shortly after he landed, Tias stood up and was amazed at what he saw. 

A giant red ship. The Ragnorak. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Whoohoo! chappy 4 is done. I'm thinking its the longest one yet. I know you took the time to read my shpeal but could ya just do me a favor? Write me a nice review? Pretty-please wid a cherry on top? 


	5. Time to run

A/N: I'm not gonna say it any more....i don't own nothing, ain't stealin' anything just read the story and review it, please. 

***~The New Students~***

*~Time to Run~* 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish groaned she opened her eyes to find she was lying on the ground somewhere she had never been. She pushed herself off the ground into a sitting position and looked around at her surroundings, _a desert? It's just a coincidence_. Trying to remember what had happened._ I_ _remember now, Seifer and me just went through the portal_. Trish turned her face towards the sky and searched for something familiar, not finding anything but a clear blue sky and a blazing sun she looked around for Seifer. He was trying to get up just a few yards away. Trish stood up and brushed the dust off her clothes and made her way over to him. 

"What are supposed to do now?" Trish asked as she looked around, "How the hell are going to find the Ragkoran or whatever it's called?" 

"Come here and I'll show you," Seifer said as he took a look around. As Trish got closer he pulled up his sleeve and flipped the cover of the device on his wrist up and typed something into the keypad, "Look," he said pointing at the image that was being projected up from the device, "This is the map of this world, see all the green dots?" Trish nodded, "Those are the other SeeDs. We're down here, and the Ragnorak is up here. " Seifer said pointing to a red dot a ways up the map, "There aren't very many humans here or strong monsters, we shouldn't come into too much trouble." 

"We've got a ways to walk," Trish said as she examined the map, 

"Yea," Seifer said turning the device off and letting his sleeve cover it back up. 

"What's that thing called anyways?" Trish asked pointing to his wrist, "Is it a G.P.S. or something?" 

"Yea," Seifer answered, "That's exactly what it is." 

"What did Squall mean by the SeeDs training us?" Trish asked she examined the gun that was given to her. 

"Oh yeah," Seifer said trying to figure out what to do, "First thing you wanna do is junction a GF and some magic. The GF has the ability to improve your battle skill, and the magic can strengthen you even more." 

Trish gave him a blank look, "Um, ok? What if I can do magic tricks?." 

"Not tricks, magic tricks are just illusions," Seifer explained, "The kind of magic I'm talking about is no illusion. I'll talk you through the junction process. First, we'll junction the GFs. You can start off with Shiva, Quetzacoatl, and Ifirit. Now, you can junction abilities, junction attack, GF, magic and draw......" 

"What's draw?" Trish asked as Seifer showed her how to junction her abilities. 

"I was just getting to that," Seifer said, "The draw command allows you to draw magic, either from a draw point or an enemy. But, it wouldn't be a good idea to wait until we get attacked before you get some magic so now I guess I'll show you how to refine items. You can use items that you find after a battle to make magic and other tools. I'll refine enough magic stone pieces to give you 25 of fire, ice, thunder, and cure magic. That's just to start you off, you should try and draw as much magic from an enemy to stock up, wouldn't want to get stuck in battle without some back-up. Later on you try higher level magic" 

"Ok," Trish said as she tried to remember how to do all this for the future, "Is that all?" 

"No," Seifer said, "But these are the basics. Don't worry, you're not expected to remember everything." 

Trish nodded, "Should we start off towards Ragnorak now?" 

"Yea, if we get attacked just do as I tell you," Seifer instructed. 

The two walked for hours through the desert beneath the unforgiving sun. So far in their journey they hadn't been attacked, not like that meant anything. Seifer stopped and pulled up his sleeve and brought up the map, there should be a forest nearby. He turned the map off and shielded his eyes to see in the distance, sure enough there was a forest up ahead. Trish somewhat dulled by thirst, tried to see what Seifer was looking at. When she spotted it she couldn't believe it. 

"A forest means water," she said, "That better not be a mirage." 

"It's no mirage," Seifer said reassuringly, "It's on the map." 

They picked the pace up a bit and soon were underneath the shade of the trees. They picked their way through the underbrush, careful not to stray to far out of sight of each other. Finally, the trees cleared and they were standing on the shore of a crystal clear lake. 

Trish was hesitant of drinking the water, "Is it safe to drink?" she asked and she saw Seifer scoop some up into a tester. 

"It's safe enough," Seifer said. He looked up towards the sky, "We'll stay here for tonight." 

The travelers drank their fill of water and Seifer sat down underneath a large tree, leaning against the trunk he closed his eyes. Trish wanted to explore, but she decided against, _Who knows what's_ _in these woods_. She looked out over the lake, taking in the sight. Dropping her bag to the ground she stretched her arms to the sky, she decided to rest a bit. Trish turned to walk up near where Seifer was dozing, but she stopped frozen in her tracks. 

A giant monster, it had an almost human head and the body of a lion with a scaly tail ending in a ball with what looked like poison dart . The monster reared up as if it was about to attack. Trish grabbed the machine gun and held the trigger down and aimed at the beast. The gunshots awoke Seifer and he saw the cause. He jumped to his feet, _thank Hyne I've got Ultima_. 

"Ultima!" Seifer bellowed. Yellow-green light engulfed the beast. Trish shielded her face from the heat, she tried to watch as the spell carried itself out. 

The light faded and the monster fell to the ground, dead. 

Trish was shocked when she figured out what the thing was, "I thought you said there weren't any strong monsters here!" 

"There aren't!" Seifer exclaimed as he tried to get a closer look at the dead beast. 

"That's fucking a Manticore!" Trish said as if she didn't believe it. She forced the mouth open revealing three rows of razor-sharp teeth, "From what I've read, you don't want to meet one! That is, IF you could.....they just kind of happen to be an Asian myth, as in not real!" 

"How do you know all this?" Seifer asked as he cast a Scan. 

"I had to choose a mythological creature and write my own myth about it for English," she answered as she took a step back to see the information the spell was able to tell them, "I didn't think I'd find one, seeing it isn't supposed to be real." 

"If you see it, it's real," Seifer said. 

**Manticore-** a large beast with the head of a human, the body of a lion and a scaly tail ending in a spiked ball. Stalks its prey, primarily humans, through the forest and upon encounter uses its Poison Volley attack killing it immediately. The victim is then devoured completely, nothing left behind. 

"Let me guess there's unicorns and minotaur here too," Trish said as Seifer ended the spell. 

"I think there is a GF called Minotaur if you're the lucky one you don't have to fight it," Seifer said as resumed his spot underneath the tree, "And there is something like unicorns where we're going. They're Mesmerizes, they have a long curved horn that they use for attacking." 

"There's prolly dragons too," Trish said sarcastically as she too sat down beneath the tree. 

"There are," Seifer said grinning, "They're magnificent creatures, deadly, but magnificent I'll show you one. Now go to sleep, you'll need any strength you can get." 

Trish rolled her eyes as she tried to comfortable, _How is this real?,_ sleep slowly came. She let her eyes close listening to the sounds of the night. She was almost immediately dreaming, but it was too real to be a dream. Trish looked around, she was in math class working on her homework. She sat for a few moments confused, she felt as if she were living two lives. She had memories of going through the portal but ending up back home in bed and going on normally with her life, while having the memories of the desert and a Manticore. 

"Is there something you need explained again?" her teacher asked pulling the girl's attention back to math class. 

"No, no," Trish said going back to her homework. 

Trish sat up quickly, surrounded by darkness and the hum of bugs. She was back in the forest, underneath the tree next to Seifer, whom she had just kicked. Trish shifted herself into a more comfortable position. 

"I thought I told you to sleep," the blond muttered. He sat up when he noticed the frightened look on Trish's face, "What happened?" he asked with concern. 

"I had a dream....," She started uncertainly as she stared down at the ground, "at least I think it was a dream.....it didn't feel like a dream though..." 

"What happened?" he asked again, starting to get annoyed. 

"I was in math class," she said and she looked up at Seifer, "The weird part is, is that I had memories of being here and being there. I could remember what I did over the weekend and I could remember being attacked by the Manticore." 

Seifer thought this over for a few moments, "I don't know what's going on," he said truthfully, he gazed up at the horizon that was just being dyed pink and orange with the morning sun, "We better just try and get to Ragnorak as soon as possible." 

Trish nodded and she stood and stretched relieving the knots that had developed during the night. Brushing herself off she picked her bag and gun up from the ground, ready to trek further on. Seifer nodded to her as he went into the forest, making their way through the trees they made it out to the other side. Seifer checked the map again, they were half way there. 

It wasn't long before they were attacked, this time by a giant bird. It had snuck up them from behind and attacked Seifer. 

"Ok," Seifer said as he quickly recovered from the attack and drew Hyperion, "Cast Fire on the bird. Remember to focus on the spell and the target before you cast." 

Trish nodded as she closed her eyes and let her gun rest at her side, her left hand stretched out in front of her. Fire..., she been to feel heat at the tips of her fingers. She almost lost her concentration before she pushed a ball of fire towards the bird. The fireball hit and engulfed the bird, it fell to the ground before slowly coming back up and Seifer finished it off with one quick swipe from his gunblade. The bird let out one last shriek before it fell to the ground, dead. 

Trish grinned having won her first battle, as meaningless as it was. "So..?" She asked as Seifer collected some of the items the bird dropped. "How'd I do?" 

"Very well," Seifer said standing up, he obviously impressed, "Very well, indeed. You'll do well with magic, that was a very powerful fire. It did about as much damage as a weak Sorceress." 

"A weak Sorceress?" Trish asked feeling slightly disappointed. 

"Even a Sorceress who hasn't developed her powers much can do considerable damage with low level magic," Seifer explained. 

"Oh," Trish said thinking it over, "Could I be a Sorceress and not know it?" 

"In your world, yes," Seifer said, "There could be millions, who if they were elsewhere could have Sorceress powers." 

"Are there many in your world," Trish asked. 

"No," Seifer answered, "Only two. Sorceress Edea, you'll get the privilege of meeting her when we get back to Garden, and Sorceress Rinoa, you've already met her. Squall and the others defeated the other two....." 

"Adel and Ultimecia," Trish interrupted, she remembered reading about them in the book Seifer gave her, "What about their knight? It said in the book you gave me that they were the same man." 

"What?" Seifer said he got noticeably uncomfortable by the girls question but he had to answer her, "Oh him,...He was allowed to live, but he was kept under tight security for a while." 

"Who was he?" she asked. 

Seifer stared at the sand for a moment before answering, "Me," he murmured sheathing his gunblade, "Let's go, I wanna cover as much ground as possible before nightfall." 

They were silent as they traveled through the desert. After many hours of walking and fighting of monsters, the sand started to become less and they were in a grassy plain. Seifer looked at the map again to make sure they were on course, nodding to himself he closed it. 

"We'll camp here for the night, we'll be able to spot an attack easier, there should be a stream just inside the forest over there," Seifer said calling Trish's attention back. She had been looking back at where they had just come from. 

Seifer and Trish gathered some firewood and Seifer was able to catch something that looked like a rabbit with no ears. Dropping her armload of wood she sat down on the ground, she didn't have any matches nor did Seifer, _I can use the fire magic!_ She arranged the wood, like her dad had taught her so many years ago, and then she sat back on her heels and concentrated on Fire. Feeling the slight burning sensation in her fingertips she pushed slightly at the pile of wood, which caught quickly sending a large flame up that almost singed her. 

"Good job," Seifer said as he came back with some sticks, "I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out." Seifer took a small jackknife from his pocket and proceeded to sharpen the ends of the sticks. When he finished with one he jabbed it into the ground and started on the next one. 

"Can I see your gunblade?" Trish asked as she sat and watched him shave off the bits of wood. He thought it over and he set down the knife and stick and pulled out his gunblade. 

The blade seemed dull in the low-light of the fire, he handed it to her, "It's called Hyperion," Seifer explained as he started whittling again, "It's in the Fire Cross series. I could remodel it if I wanted to, but it was the last thing my dad gave me before he died. Squall uses a gunblade also, there are very few people who have been able to master it." 

"What kind does he got?" Trish asked her slid her fingertips over the red crosses on the handle of the gunblade, they matched the red markings on Seifers trench coat. 

"His is a Lionheart," Seifer said as he examined the tip of the stick and drove it into the ground, "It's the most powerful gunblade in the Lionheart Series." 

"Interesting," Trish said as she handed the blade back to Seifer who sheathed it again, "Are you two sponsored by the companies or something?" 

"Sponsored?" Seifer asked confused and he started to cook the rabbit thing. 

"Well, Squall had a necklace with the same charm that's on the gunblade," Trish said explaining, "And you have the trench coat with the fire-crosses on them. Do you promote the weapons?" 

"My dad worked for the company that made the gunblade before the First Sorceress War," Seifer said trying to remember, "At least that was what I was told, I guess that's how I got the coat. 

There wasn't much conversation while the food cooked, they ate and went to sleep. The fire died down and soon was a pile of coals glowing in the night. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Trish was roughly awoken for her dream of her old life, it still confused her, she almost felt like she was split in two. One half was here in the wilderness trying to find some ship, and the other was living like normal teenager. Trish protested waking up and was roughly pulled to her feet. She opened her eyes to find the camp filled with several people, Seifer was still asleep but was about to be disturbed by two men dressed in limited clothing and there were two others trying to drag her off. 

"Seifer!" She tried to scream out but she was quickly silenced by a cloth and she struck on the head. 

Seifer heard his name being called and he felt someone trying to move him and he immediately awoke. The camp had four natives, two were dragging Trish off and two were surrounding him. Before the two near him could do anything he leapt up and tried to get to Trish but was caught by two others that were hidden by the nights cloak. He was struck hard and was knocked unconscious. I failed again. 

Seifer woke sometime later because the floor he was lying on was rumbling and shuddering as if it was moving. He groaned loudly as he felt the pain of the lump from being hit in the head. He noticed he didn't have Hyperion, he looked around as he tried to stand. The floor was moving, at least the structure it was in was moving. We must be in a primitive ship. He quickly gained his balance and he saw Trish lying on the floor. She was starting to wake up, Seifer went and knelt on the ground near her. 

"Are you ok?" Seifer asked as he helped her up from the floor. 

"Besides this headache," She winced as she felt the bump on the back of her head, "I think I'm fine. Where are we?" 

"I don't know," Seifer said looking around, "We seem to be moving though." 

All of a sudden the sound stopped and the structure halted. They heard voices coming from outside the room, tried to hear what the people were saying.. "The prisoners are right this way, sir,"..70; "Good, I shall examine them now. You said they were armed when your scouts found them?" 

"I thought you said there weren't many people here?" Trish hissed to Seifer. She tried to sit up but the pain in her head made her dizzy and she fell back down. 

"We found one of the few communities," Seifer said as he looked around noticing the other prisoners. The heavy door opened and two men came in. One was obviously someone of great importance, judging by his extravagant robes, and the other was a guard. 

"You two," the important one said pointing at Seifer and Trish. 

Seifer complied and he helped Trish to her feet and steadied her. The mans beady black eyes examined the two, he seemed pleased but at the same time concerned. 

"Bring me the girl," he finally said, "I'd keep an eye on the man if I were you." 

The guard took Trish from Seifer's arms and practically dragged her off. Despite her headache, she was able to fight back. She let a fist fly and it landed on the nose of the guard, he cursed as he pushed her roughly and two other guards grabbed her. 

"Restrain her!" the guard with the broken nose yelled. 

Seifer couldn't help but laugh, but he knew he would have to find a way to escape. He had little magic stocked and he knew Trish had about the same left. All of their things were gone, weapons and supplies. He sat down on the floor and waited seeing there wasn't much he could do until he knew where Trish was and if he could easily escape. 

Trish was dragged by the guards up some stairs that led outside. As they came to the top of the stairs Trish found herself on the deck of a large boat. She looked around, on either side she saw grassy plains, to left she could make out a low mountain. Squinting she saw that it looked like a dragon, Trish sucked in a sharp breath, the guards looked like Africans. The rumbling and the rough movement of the ship told her it was a wheeled ship_, Mika was right....she was actually_ _right for once! _Trish started to panic as the predictions came true, _Wait a minute....Since when does life go exactly according to plan? I'm not going to let myself be killed. _

"Move on," the guard growled as he pushed her forward sending her stumbling along until the guard jerked her arms painfully forcing her to halt. 

She was standing in front of a man dressed in expensive looking robes, though not as fancy as the ones she saw on the one who inspected her below deck. The man was obviously trying to intimidate her as she stood before him. She kept her expression a mask of calm, she wasn't going to allow herself to scare easy. 

"Is she strong?" he finally asked. 

The guard with the broken nose answered, "Stronger than she looks, sir." 

The man nodded as he proceeded to circle her, Trish followed his movement with her eyes. She clenched her hands into tight fists, she felt like she was being sold off as a slave. 

"She'll do," he said when he was standing in front of her. He looked into her eyes, "She'll do just fine. I want the one she was with to attend the ceremony, it'll make an example. Prepare her for the ceremony." 

Trish felt the panic she was suppressing rise as she was pulled off to the other end of the deck. She was pushed into a room furnished with a bed with shackles attached. 

"Strap her to the bed," a man said as he stepped from the shadows. Trish darted her eyes in his direction, he held a syringe with a clear liquid in it, "Now this won't hurt a bit, it'll just make you a bit tired." The man said as he grinned and stuck the needle into her vein and injected the liquid into her. 

She tried to struggle but her limbs soon felt like the bones were gone, and slowly her eyes closed and the guards were able to strap her down. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Seifer was sitting on the floor with knees drawn up and his arms resting on them. He had been sitting like that since the men came and took Trish, which was several hours ago. Somehow he knew they would be back for him, he just wished they would come soon. He couldn't help but feel more worried, every minute he had to wait, it meant another minute that Trish could be suffering. Seifer was disturbed from his thoughts when the door opened and two guards came in. 

Seifer quickly got to his feet, "Where'd you take her?" he demanded. 

The guards did not answer him but they took him quickly by the arms and proceeded to lead him out of the room. Seifer started to resist but he stopped when he figured that he might be able to find Trish. The guards led him out into a corridor then up a small flight of stairs to the deck. They were several people of varying ranks milling about the deck as if they waiting for something to happen. 

On the other end of the deck there was a platform and it looked like there were priests setting it up to perform a ceremony. Seifer was allowed to see all this before the guards forcefully pushed him towards the platform. He was able to keep himself calm as he was lead through the crowd, the people turned to stare at him with looks of disgust and fear. The blond man ignored their stares and set his face into an emotionless mask. He stepped up on to the platform and was led to a bench off to the side, the guards secured his hands underneath the bench with just enough rope to allow him to sit upright, Seifer noticed he had a perfect view of the alter, _If they're gonna try_ _and scare me they're gonna hafta do better then this_. He could see a small fire pit they had set up near the alter and there were some small bottles of liquid lined up on the alter. 

A door opened and two guards stepped out leading a girl in a long turquoise colored dress that had a slit going up to about mid thigh and revealed the girls midriff. Seifer recognized her almost instantly, _Trish!?_ The girl didn't seem as if she was aware of what was happening, she acted zombie-like as she was led to the alter. The priest stopped the guard and waved something underneath Trish's nose, her eyes lost their glazed looked and she became aware of where she was. The priest turned and raised his arms to the crowd. Trish looked around at the crowd and saw Seifer sitting on the bench, her fear and anger shown in her features as she mouthed something to him. 'Can we escape?' Seifer shook his head 'no' and pointed to the armed guards in the crowd and the guards in the crows nest, along with ones who watched over them there were twenty guards in all. 

A disappointed look came over her face, she figured Seifer had some plan and she couldn't stand not knowing what it was. The guards led up the small steps to the alter and forced to lie flat on the flat surface, they secured her hands and feet with manacles. The priest opened a small door that was underneath the top of the alter and pulled something out. Trish drew in a quick breath as the priest quickly raised it up for the crowd, a python, the priest passed the snake to a guard nearby who then passed it to someone in the crowd. Each person in the crowd held the snake before passing it on. 

Seifer watched in interest, keeping his eyes on the guards he kept trying to cut the thick rope that bound him to the bench with his bracelet. He watched as the priest picked up a branding iron from the fire, the priest raised that up for the crowd to see as well and the crowd cheered. Seifer checked his progress on the rope, _Almost done....gotta move faster. _

Trish watched as the priest brandished the branding iron, her panic was starting to rise as he brought the end of the iron closer to the skin on her stomach. Her breath quickened when she could feel the heat of the iron and she screamed in pain as the iron made contact with her skin. She could it feel it blister and hear it sizzle as the priest held it there, Trish looked into the face of the priest, his evil grin portrayed that he found humor in this. He finally pulled it away leaving a red blistering imprint of a dragon, the priest picked up a bottle with a red liquid. 

"With the blood of a sacred dragon," the priest said, the first thing he had uttered the whole time, "We bind this mortal women to us. May the dragon's spirit find her body suitable to serve him." 

The crowd cheered as the priest prepared to pour the blood on the burn to make a scar. Seifer sawed faster, he didn't care if the rope caught fire he had to save Trish. He watched as he sawed the rope, the bottle tipped slowly and the red liquid inside flowed toward the open end of the neck. Finally, Seifer sawed through the remaining strands of rope and he broke free. He ran towards the priest and hit him just as the some of the blood dropped onto Trish. It made contact with the burn and it stung, Trish let out another scream as she arched her back in reaction to the blood in her fresh wound. 

Seifer threw the priest against the wall causing a hidden door to open revealing their weapons. Seifer let out a small sigh of relief as he quickly grabbed the weapons and bag. He ran back to where Trish was, the dragon's blood had already started it's process. Seifer knew that if someone's blood wasn't compatible with the dragon's blood, they would die, if it was they would live and would be stronger than a normal human. Seifer gritted his teeth as he brought the gunblade up and brought it down onto the chains, he broke both sets of chains quickly then picked Trish up, who was now feverish and shivering, and broke into a run towards the side of the ship. 

It far to the ground and Seifer leapt off the side and landed on the grass, he stumbled slightly but kept running. He didn't care where just as long as he was bale to get away from the ship. Seifer ran until the ship was out of sight before he stopped to check where he was on the map, he pulled the G.P.S. out and brought up the map, the Ragnorak was very close. Looks like it's just beyond the hill, Seifer looked in the direction of the ship and hoped he was right and he started running again. 

He was close to collapsing when he spotted the ship and his energy was renewed. He picked up his pace which had slowed before he reached the small drumlin. He looked down at Trish, she seemed to be asleep but she was still sweating profusely and was shaking from tremors. Seifer reached the ship and was met by Squall and Quistis. 

"What happened to her?" Quistis asked as Squall took the girl from Seifer's arms. 

"We were captured and they performed some ceremony on her," Seifer explained as he tried to catch his breath, "There's nothing we can do to help her, all we can do is wait and see if she survives." 

"Ok," Quistis said as she looked over the girl, "Let's put her in a bed so she'll be comfortable at least." Quistis led the way up the loading ramp of the giant ship. 

A door opened as she came to it and it led to a corridor and Quistis wen to the first door on the left. A couple other doors opened down the halls and heads poked out to see what was going on. Ciel saw Squall carrying Trish and came over to see what happened. 

"You'll have to wait," Seifer said when he stopped Ciel, "She'll be fine don't worry, Quistis is gonna examine her closer to be sure. 

"I think I have the right to see my friend," Ciel said stubbornly. Seifer opened his mouth to say something but he knew it was pointless to try and stop her. 

"Go on," He said stepping aside to allow her to pass through the door, "Stay out of the way though." 

Ciel went into the small room and watched from the back, she saw Trish lying on the bed sweating and shivering from a high fever. She noticed the burn that looked like a dragon, she nudged Seifer and pointed to the mark. 

"It was part of some weird ceremony these people performed on her while we were captured," Seifer explained, "The ceremony was some kind of test, is she lives she passes the test." 

"Tell me the truth," Ciel whispered not taking her eye off her friend, "Does she have a chance of surviving?" 

Seifer shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "We'll know by this time tomorrow." 

"Ok let's get ready to leave," Squall said, "Ciel and Seifer you go rest, Quistis you tend to Trish get whatever you'll need now. There isn't much else we can do." 

The three nodded and Quistis was the first to leave, Seifer followed after taking a last look at the Trish's motionless form on the bed. Squall nudged Ciel and she nodded and slowly left the room. Squall closed the door behind him and the room was quiet for a few moments, the curtain to the top bunk slid open and a head poked out and looked around before climbing out. Tias. 

Tias sat on a stool and looked at Trish, "I'm sorry," he whispered. 


	6. waiting to land

***~The New Students~***

*~Waiting to land~* 

Tias sat on a stool at looked at Trish, "I'm sorry," he whispered. He lightly caressed her pale cheek and swept a strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead. Tias took her hand and interlocked his fingers with his, "Don't die on me...." 

Footsteps, coming steadily down the hall. Tias quickly climbed back into the top bunk and pulled the curtain closed as the door slid open and Seifer walked in. The door slid closed behind him as he slowly came over the bedside and sat on the stool that Tias had been on. Trish's hand was hanging over the edge gently he placed back on her stomach. Seifer sighed as he watched her, her breathing was shallow and she was still having slight tremors. His gloved hand traced her cheekbone slowly, he took out a small cloth and wiped away the sweat that had formed on her forehead. _Wake up! Come on, just wake up! Let me know you're OK_. 

Tias watched as Seifer wipe her forehead, "Don't you touch her," he whispered before he realized what he did and buried his face into a pillow hoping Seifer didn't hear but he did. Seifer immediately looked up to the bunk that was shrouded by a curtain and listened. Tias watched through the small slit between the curtains, hoping Seifer wouldn't pull them back. Seifer eyes narrowed as he stared at the curtains, he noticed they moved slightly as if by a breeze but there was none. Standing up he reached a gloved hand up to move the curtain. Tias shrank back against the wall. Quickly Seifer tore away the curtain to see Tias pressed up against the opposite wall. 

Tias let out a cry as Seifer reached up and grabbed him by the shirt to drag him out. "What are you doing here?" Seifer demanded between gritted teeth. Tias's feet dangled a couple of feet off the floor. 

He glanced down to the ground and took a deep breath, "No..no..nothing," he stammered. 

Seifer snarled as he gave the teenager a shake, "Nothing," he said more angered by the fact that someone had seen him display some emotion other than hate towards someone else than that Tias had somehow gotten on the ship, "Isn't acceptable. Now, what are you doing here?" 

"I..I..I don't know," Tias answered trying to control his voice, "I saw you two disappear along with other people and I didn't want to lose my chance to apologize so I followed after the two who stayed behind left. I ended up outside this...thing and I checked it out. Then people started to show up and I stayed hidden." 

Seifer let go of his shirt and let him drop to the ground. Tias stumbled before he regained his balance. 

"Now I have a question for you," Tias said acting braver than he felt, "What did you do to her? How could you let her get hurt?" 

Seifer's eyes became an emerald fire before he grabbed Tias by the shirt again, "You wanna know?" he shouted, "I did nothing, I let them take her away. I didn't want to get us killed so I let them do it to her!" 

Ciel was lying on her bed in her room when she heard shouting from down the hall. She quickly got to her feet and ran down the hall to where the shouting was. The door slid open revealing the Seifer and Tias. 

"Tias?!" She exclaimed. 

"I found him in here," Seifer said letting the shaking boy go and Tias retreated to Ciels side. 

"He was touching her," Tias exclaimed trying to get Ciel on his side, "He was the one who hurt her! I was just......." 

"Tias," Ciel said silencing the nervous wreck, "Shut up! There was nothing he could do, anyway he carried her here. So in the end he saved her, and why would you care? It's not like you looked out for her much." 

"Look I'm sorry," Tias pleaded, "I didn't even know the girl. I didn't do anything..." 

"Don't be apologizing to me," Ciel said taking a step towards Trish's shaking form, "She's the one you hurt." She said gesturing a hand towards Trish. 

Tias looked at his girlfriend and he cursed at himself. He finally looked into Ciel's face, tears forming in his eyes but he didn't let them fall. Ciel looked like she was about to forgive him, but Seifer spoke. 

"I have to report you to the commander," he said, "Come on." 

Tias nodded as he turned to leave and Seifer followed him. Ciel sat down on the stool, _I wish I_ _could do something._ She looked up again as the door opened again, this time Quistis came in with a tray filled with several utensils. 

"You should get some rest," Quistis said sympathetically, "You'll be the first to know if her condition changes." 

Rubbing her hands on her thighs, Ciel slowly stood and left the room. Quistis offered a small smile when Ciel looked back into the room as the door slid closed. Ciel walked slowly back to her room, praying that Trish would be all right. She leaned against the wall outside her door and sighed, Ciel stepped in front of the metal door and it slid open. She wandered into the dimly light room and laid down on the bed. She tried to get sleep to come quickly, she needed to know if 'real world' Trish knew what was going on. Ciel stared listlessly at the ceiling as her eyelids started to droop and she fell fast asleep. 

Ciel sat straight up in her bed, her pillows fell to the floor with a soft thump. Brushing her hair out of her eyes she reached down and picked up her pillows. She was just getting used to getting the occasional updates of what her 'fantasy-self' was up to. She felt like she was split in two, like some odd kind of schizophrenia. She hadn't been sure if the others were experiencing so she didn't bring it up and they didn't either but now she didn't care. She flicked the light switch on and searched for her cell phone but not finding it she grabbed the cordless from the hall. Ciel dialed Trish's number and waited for someone to answer. 

"This better be good," came a groggy male voice. 

"I need to talk to Trish," Ciel said quickly, "And it can't wait." 

Ciel heard some fumbling and grumbling as Trish's dad set the phone done and shuffled off to wake up Trish. She climbed back onto her bed as she waited and brought the covers over her shoulders to keep away the chill of the house. 

"What," Trish said her voice was thick with sleep. 

"Does it seem like there's two of you?" Ciel asked without thinking, "I mean like part of you is here and the other is there?" 

"Yea," Trish said becoming more awake, "Why?" 

"Something happened to you and you don't seem to be doing too well," Ciel said, "Seifer says you should be fine, but I can't help feeling concerned." 

"I don't think I've died yet," Trish said, "I've gotten several updates the past few days, I don't know what's going on. I just feel really hot and feverish whenever I get an update. Hey wait a minute, the same things happening to you?" 

"Yea," Ciel said leaning against the wall, "That's why I called. Oh yeah Tias is there too, Seifer found him in your room." 

"I think I remember that," Trish said thinking back to her last update, "There was lots of yelling." 

"So you don't know if you're going to be ok?" Ciel said yawning. 

"I don't know," Trish replied, "I guess we're just gonna have to wait it out." 

"I'm sorry for calling so late," Ciel said standing up and moving towards the door. 

"It's ok," Trish said, "See you tomorrow." 

"See ya," Ciel heard the click over the phone and she hung up. 

Ciel placed the phone back on its cradle and got back into her bed. She left her light on as she slowly went back to sleep. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Quistis had been watching over Trish for the past hour and the only change she saw was that Trish went from slightly pale to a ghostly white. She was still shaking and she still had a fever. _She isn't looking too good_. Quistis pulled the blanket up on Trish's body, leaning back she covered her mouth as she yawned. _Maybe someone else can keep an eye on her while I get some rest_. Quistis pushed herself up and went out into the hall, she nearly tripped over Seifer who was sitting on the floor outside Trish's room. Quistis let out a small chuckle as she watched Seifer scramble to his feet. 

"Is she ok?" he asked eagerly. 

"I don't know yet," Quistis said, "You can watch over her while I get some rest if you wish." 

Seifer nodded, "Yea," he whispered, "You go get some sleep, you've done more than enough." 

"Actually, Seifer," Quistis said matter of factly, "You've done more.....I've never seen you like this, are you ok?" 

"What?" Seifer asked, he had been staring into the room, "Yea .Yea, I'm fine. You go sleep, I'll tell ya if she wakes up." 

Quistis padded down the hall and into her room leaving Seifer standing inside the door, unsure of whether or not to go in. He finally decided to go in, he stood for a moment before sitting on the small stool. She had gotten paler over the last few hours he noticed, but her tremors were less intense. He rubbed his hand through his hair and moved the stool so it was closer to the wall and he was able to lean against it. He let his mind wander and didn't notice as he nodded off to sleep. 

Seifer woke an hour later when he heard a noise, he looked around the room confused until his eyes landed upon the bed. Trish was sitting up on the bed, Seifer knelt by the bed. 

"Are you ok," Seifer whispered. 

Trish cleared her throat, "I think so, what happened?" 

"Nothing," Seifer lied, "Nothing .Wait here." 

Seifer went into the hall and proceeded to Quistis's room, he knocked on the door. He heard some muffled shuffling before the door opened revealing a sleep ruffled Quistis rubbing sleep from her crystalline blue eyes. 

"She just woke up," Seifer said. Making Quistis fully wake up, she looked up at Seifer. His emerald green eyes were sparkling, "She's ok." He said. 

"I better check on her anyway," Quistis said as she grabbed her robe and proceeded down the hall to Trish's room with Seifer following. "How are you feeling?" 

"I'm ok I guess," Trish said shrugging her shoulders, "The burn hurts a little but nothing too bad." 

"You mind if I have a look," Quistis asked taking a seat on the stool(AN: I'm sure you're all gettin' tired of the stool by now.) Trish shook her head and pulled the blanket away from the wound, it was flaming red. Quistis examined the shape of it more closely, "I recognize this from somewhere....." 

"What's it supposed to represent?" Trish asked as she bent her head down to look at the burn. 

"Some sort of ancient tradition," Quistis said quietly, slowly remembering, "Did they put snake's blood on it?" 

"Didn't have the chance to," Seifer said, "But they got some dragon's blood on it." 

"I don't remember what the different blood was supposed to do," Quistis said biting her lip in thought, "I'll see what I can find at the library when we get back." Quistis stood and checked her silver wristwatch, "It's 5:30 already and it's my turn to make breakfast. Do you think you can make it to the mess hall?" 

"I don't see why not," Trish said standing up wincing slightly. Quistis nodded and left the room her robe trailing behind her. Trish looked down at what she was wearing, "I like the dress." She commented. 

"I'm sure you'll want to change," Seifer said suddenly starting to get nervous. He ran his fingers through his hair, "I'll meet ya in the mess hall." He tried to leave but was bowled over by Ciel. 

"Sorry 'bout that," she said catching her breath and straightening herself. "You're ok?" 

"Yes," Trish and Seifer said simultaneously. 

"I was asking her," Ciel said pointedly. 

"Well, I was the one you rudely bumped into," Siefer said pretending to be hurt. 

"You're supposed to be a man," she said with mock authority as she looked the tall blond up and down, "Suck it up." 

Seifer frowned as he left the room, leaving the two girls to talk. Trish looked around her room for some different clothes, not finding any she sat back down on her bed. 

"So, like, what happened?" Ciel asked. 

"I don't remember exactly, we were trying to get here and we were captured," Trish said, "That's about all I remember. You hungry?" 

"Yea," Ciel said, "Have you seen the animals they got around here?" 

"Pretty strange huh?" Trish said getting up and straightening the dress, "I'm not flashing anything am I?" 

Ciel took a quick look, "No you're fine. What kinds did you fight?" She went closer to the door and it slid open. 

"The first thing we fought was a Manticore," Trish said leading the way out the door, "Then we fought a whole bunch of birds and weird looking little things. Nothing I recognize, at first I didn't know what to do, I was fighting these cute little animals that breath fire and teleport." 

"I can't stand killing little animals," Ciel said as she walked beside Trish down the corridor to the elevator, "Even if they do breath fire and try to kill me." 

"Have fun being a vegetarian," Trish said stepping onto the platform. It took them up, "You know where the mess hall is?" 

"It's this way," Ciel said pointing off to the right, "They said they not only use it for eating but also for, like, tactical meetings or something I don't know, I'm still waiting for someone to snap his fingers and I'll wake up and this'll be a dream or hallucination." 

Trish nodded as she entered the long room lined with windows. There was a long table with straight-back chairs going along each side in the middle. Quistis had already set out some muffins and bagels along with Milk and juice. Seifer was already halfway through a stack of five pancakes. Zell sat down with eight hot-dogs piled on his plate, he picked one up and looked at it hungrily before shoving half of it in his mouth. 

Ciel look at Zell with disgust, "Hot-dogs ?For breakfast?" She asked making a face. 

Zell nodded and swallowed the bite of hot-dog, "These things are the best, you should try 'em!" 

"That's all Chicken-wuss eats," Seifer said as he poured himself a glass of milk and swiftly dodged a punch from Zell, "Chill out!" 

Trish giggled as she saw Zell calmed down and went back to eating his hot-dogs. Trish sat down across from Zell and grabbed a banana-nut muffin from the plate, they were still warm. Zell looked up from his hot-dogs at Trish while she broke off a piece and ate it. 

"Chic food," he muttered, "How can you at that stuff?" 

"Well, I am a chic," Trish said, "and it's not like chic food ever killed anybody." 

Zell muttered something to himself as he downed another hot-dog, whole this time. 

"Hey Seifer?" Squall asked sitting down at the table with Rinoa, "Would you be up for a quick training session after breakfast?" 

Seifer swallowed his mouthful of food before answering, "Yea sure," Seifer said, "Ready to get your ass beat again?" 

"Again?" Squall asked, "Last time I was the one still standing." 

Seifer muttered something into his plate and Squall smirked. Selphie stumbled into the room already cheery and bright, Irvine followed her. Some of the other 'recruits' came in together, talking quietly amongst themselves. There was Dan, a boy who Trish knew from a couple classes they had together last year, Liana, a girl Trish didn't know too well but she seemed nice enough, Bryan, whose nickname was Shoobie but beyond that he was a mystery, and John who looked like a slight breeze could send him to the hospital with serious injuries. They sat at the other end of the table, leaving quite a bit of space between them and the rest of them who already sitting. 

Selphie frowned slightly before picking up her plate and moving it down a few chairs so she was sitting right next John. John shot a quick glance at before scooting his chair over a bit. Ciel and Trish figured out what she was trying to so they too moved down closer to the four. Liana glanced at Trish before looking back down at her empty plate. 

"Hey," Trish said smiling, "How's your vacation going so far?" She could see Dan and Bryan smirk so she continued, "I've had fun so far," Her grin grew as she saw she was starting to break the ice. 

"Mine was horrible," Liana said quietly, "There was all this sand and the heat was unbearable." 

"It wasn't all bad," Quistis said from by the stove, "You have to admit the view from the canyon was priceless." 

Liana didn't answer but she nodded in agreement. She grabbed an orange from the basket in the middle of table and started to peel it, "Glad you have oranges, I love oranges." 

Seifer finally stood after eating his third helping of pancakes, "I don't know about you but I'm ready." 

"Always ready," Squall stated standing up and leading the way to the ships multipurpose room. 

Everyone gathered on the walkway above it to watch. Trish was excited to be able to watch two experienced gunblade fighters battle. She and Ciel leaned against the railing to watch. 

Seifer drew Hyperion and Squall drew Lionheart, they circled each other casually. Seifer had a smirk and Squall had a blank stare. Hyperion was being held down at Seifers side casually, almost like he was dragging it along. Squall held his like a baseball bat, a home run hitter waiting for the pitch. It came, Seifer made the first attack and Squall blocked it. A loud clang filled the room, small sparks flew through air around the point of contact. Squall countered and the two fighters picked up the pace of the battle. The light was reflecting off the metal blades, flashes of light filled the room. 

Trish watched on as the two continued on, dodging close attacks and hitting back, trying not to hit each other but coming very close every time. A dangerous ballet came into Trish's head as she thought of a way to describe it. A blast of fire erupted, the blast came from Seifer and was meant to hit Squall but he dodged it in time and attacked causing Seifer to step close to the ball of fire singing his gray trench coat. Their speed increased and the sparks from their gunblades got bigger and more frequent, both were breathing hard and tired but too stubborn and arrogant to let up. They circled about the room, one couldn't tell who had the upper hand in the fight, the SeeDs were equaled in their skills, this was just a test to see who would get desperate and make the wrong move when. 

Suddenly, Squalls gunblade was knocked from his grip when Seifer slashed upwards, taking him by surprise. The blade skittered across the floor, spinning to a stop. Seifer quickly raised the tip of Hyperion so it was mere inches away from Squalls neck, the fight was over, Seifer won. Squall raised his hands in defeat. 

"You won," Squall said almost as if he didn't believe it. 

Seifer's determined sneer transformed into a triumphant smirk, "Yes, I did." 

Everyone clapped and cheered. Zell handed a wad of money over Irvine who wore a smirk similar to Seifer's ."Told ya so," could be heard as Zell muttered something about the fight being rigged. Trish clapped along with the others as she snuck a glimpse at Tias, jealousy and awe had made a mixture in his features. 

Later on, Trish was in the empty cockpit, the sound of computers working filled the room but it was still silent. She had settled herself in one of the chairs and propped her feet up in the other and watched the view from the large window. She was surprised to find that the backgrounds from Star Trek were quite similar and the view was even more astonishing the actual thing. 

Trish was lost in a daydream and didn't hear Quistis and Rinoa come in. It wasn't until the door slid closed with a soft click that Trish turned her chair and was able to see them. She quickly brought her feet down from the chair and stood, straightening her dress. 

"I didn't think I was doing anything wrong," she said quickly. 

"You were doing nothing wrong," Rinoa said, "I must have been in space hundreds of times and I still find myself stopping to take in the view." 

"We would like to talk," Quistis said. 

"About what?" Trish asked sitting back down. 

"Seifer mentioned to us, when he gave his mission report," Rinoa started, "that you might have Sorceress powers." 

"He said something about me possibly being a Sorceress," Trish said remembering as she leaned back in the chair, "but I didn't believe him." 

"Well," Quistis said, "It is quite possible that you are and we might be able to help you develop them more." 

Trish thought about this, "How did I become a Sorceress?" She asked before she realized it. 

"Usually, the power is passed on to you when a sorceress dies," Quistis explained, "But you could have been born with the powers, which is very rare." 

"Could we start now?" Trish asked standing up and straightening the turquoise dress, "What can I do seeing that I'm a sorceress that I couldn't do if I was normal." 

"You're able to control magic differently," Quistis said taking the position as instructor like she was used to, "Instead of casting it and the magic goes through what it does, you can cast it and end it when you want to. Could you demonstrate Rinoa?" 

Rinoa concentrated on a section of the floor. Trish watched and nothing happened until a bit of wind started to spin. Soon a small whirlwind had developed, spinning furiously just on the edge of being out of control. Trish watched in interest, then Rinoa thrust her eyes towards the ceiling and the harmless whirlwind became a tornado. Trish took a step back, a look of awe on her face as she watched Rinoa control a force of nature with just her eyes. After a few seconds, Rinoa let the tornado die down. The wind dissipated and the room looked the same as it was before. 

"Whoa," Trish said, "Can I try?" 

Quistis nodded and took a step back. Trish tried doing what she had seen Rinoa do, it seemed stupid. How can she all of sudden start a tornado and then be able to control it. To her surprise a whirl wind appeared the same as before. Her concentration faltered slightly and it showed in her whirlwind. The she thrust her eyes upwards and it shot up into a tornado, Trish smirked as she concentrated and tried to move the tornado around the room and found she was able to. She let the twister dissipate and grinned with pride as she looked into the SeeD's awestruck faces. 

"What did I do wrong?" Trish asked tentatively. 

"Nothing," Quistis said. 

"I think that'll be all for today," Rinoa said, "We'll try again tomorrow." 

"I'll see ya then," Trish said. She suddenly wanted to get out of the room. She stepped lightly and quickly out the door and down the stairs nearly knocking Tias down the stairs. 

"I've been lookin' for ya," he sad as he tried to regain his balance, "I want to talk can we go someplace private?" 

It took the brunette a couple of seconds to comprehend what he saying but she nodded and led the way to her room. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Well this is done, i'm sorry for it being so long and absolutely nothing happening. I promise I'll try to make more action scenes in the future chapters! Review? plz? 


End file.
